Daily Archives: May 15, 2020

2020-05-15: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these ‘POSTEES’ on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

[Editorial] Reviving the US CDC
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-05-16
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen in the USA with 1 ∑3 million cases and an estimated death toll of 80‚Äà684 as of May 12. States that were initially the hardest hit, such as New York and New Jersey, have decelerated the rate of infections and deaths after the implementation of 2 months of lockdown. However, the emergence of new outbreaks in Minnesota, where the stay-at-home order is set to lift in mid-May, and Iowa, which did not enact any restrictions on movement or commerce, has prompted pointed new questions about the inconsistent and incoherent national response to the COVID-19…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)31140-5/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] Offline: Don’t let COVID-19 divert us completely
Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-05-16
Dr Robert Spencer, a trustee of Dr Edward Jenner’s House, Garden and Museum in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK, wrote to me last week on the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox (May 8). He was polite but disappointed: “On this day in 1980 the WHO announced the eradication of smallpox from the world. This infection, which probably caused more deaths than any other disease, was finally condemned to the history books. Sorry to see you had no space in this week’s edition of The Lancet to commemorate this milestone, especially at a time of COVID-19 pandemic.” Dr Spencer was right to admonish me.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)31130-2/fulltext?rss=yes

Sekou Odinga: ‘The right to struggle by any and all means’
| workers.org | 2020-05-16
These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the “U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners” webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. By Sekou Odinga I’m a representative of . . . | Continue reading Sekou Odinga: ‘The right to struggle by any and all means’ at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48701/?utm_source=rs…

Marc Lamont Hill: ‘Outside the logic of the prison’ on Mumia’s birthday
| workers.org | 2020-05-16
By Marc Lamont Hill These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the “U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners” webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. Marc Lamont Hill . . . | Continue reading Marc Lamont Hill: ‘Outside the logic of the prison’ on Mumia’s birthday at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48703/?utm_source=rs…

Rashid Johnson: ‘Prison has always served a particular political function’
a guest author | workers.org | 2020-05-16
Remarks were given April 24 at the “U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners” webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. Kevin Rashid Johnson, currently incarcerated in the Pendleton Correctional Facility . . . | Continue reading Rashid Johnson: ‘Prison has always served a particular political function’ at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48698/?utm_source=rs…

Is Universal Basic Income the Way Out of the Current Economic Crisis?
Ellen Brown | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Philip’s third interview with Ellen Brown focused on the Universal Basic Income, which Philip believes is the ONLY way out of the current economic crisis. The social distancing forced by the COVID-19 epidemic has shut down the country, and one-time …
globalresearch.ca/universal-basic-income…

Is Universal Basic Income the Way Out of the Current Economic Crisis?
Ellen Brown | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Philip’s third interview with Ellen Brown focused on the Universal Basic Income, which Philip believes is the ONLY way out of the current economic crisis. The social distancing forced by the COVID-19 epidemic has shut down the country, and one-time …
globalresearch.ca/universal-basic-income…

Hunger gnaws at the edges of the World
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-05-15
On 21 April, the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley said that the world was experiencing a ‘hunger pandemic’. That day, the Global Network Against Food Crises and the Food Security Information Network released the 2020 Global Report on Food Crises.
mronline.org/2020/05/15/hunger-gnaws-at-…

‘The American friends’: New court files expose Sheldon Adelson’s security team in US spy operation against Julian Assange
Max Blumenthal | thegrayzone.com | 2020-05-15
An exclusive investigation by The Grayzone reveals new details on the critical role Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands played in…
thegrayzone.com/2020/05/14/american-shel…

Neither Iraq, nor Syria can afford to allow Daesh to Return as Major Challenge
Michael Jansen | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Despite Covid-19, Iraqis have returned to the streets to demand an end to mismanagement, corruption and sectarianism as Mustafa Al Kadhimi was confirmed as the country’s new prime minister. His first act was to mollify protesters by calling for the …
globalresearch.ca/neither-iraq-nor-syria…

COVID-19 Lockdown Is Liberalism Last Hurrah
ahtribune.com | 2020-05-15
Ode of a Liberal | They passed the USA PATRIOT Act—and I did nothing because I am a patriot. | They passed the USA Freedom Act—and I believe in freedom. | They nominated Hillary Clinton—and I voted for the lesser evil. | They declared medical marshal law—and I didn’t want to kill grandma. | They said to wear a facemask—and I passively obeyed. | I believe in Joe Biden—because I am a liberal. | In 2010 Chris Hedges declared the liberal class as dead as a doornail. He was late. Liberalism had died decades earlier. All that remains is the separate components of the body of liberalism. The stinking comp…
ahtribune.com/world/covid-19/4151-lockdo…

Israel Perfecting Surveillance Tech
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Israel’s external spy organization Mossad and its internal espionage equivalent Shin Bet have reputations that are much larger than their actual successes, but the one area where they have excelled is electronic intelligence gathering. Recent electronic spying around the White …
globalresearch.ca/israel-perfecting-surv…

Israel Perfecting Surveillance Tech
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Israel’s external spy organization Mossad and its internal espionage equivalent Shin Bet have reputations that are much larger than their actual successes, but the one area where they have excelled is electronic intelligence gathering. Recent electronic spying around the White …
globalresearch.ca/israel-perfecting-surv…

Starving Bolivian workers clash with troops deployed by coup regime
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
Amid the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in Bolivia, Jeanine àÅñez’s self-proclaimed “interim government” is escalating state repression.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/boli…

Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” for Mass Vaxxing. “Big Bucks for Big Pharma”
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Big Pharma is poised to cash in big from mass COVID-19 vaxxing

“My Job Is to Make Syria a Quagmire for the Russians”: CIA Doctrine Made Official Policy
Zero Hedge | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Like with the disastrous Iraq quagmire years before the US war machine came to Syria under Obama, Washington’s rationale and justification for occupying the Syrian Arab Republic has shifted and changed drastically multiple times over. | When ultimately what started …
globalresearch.ca/make-syria-quagmire-ru…

Video: Coronavirus: Economic and Social Collapse: Mass Unemployment, Bankruptcy, Poverty and Despair
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
First published on April 16, 2020 | There is a serious health crisis which must be duly resolved. But there is another important dimension which has to be addressed. | Millions of people have lost their jobs, and their lifelong savings. In …
globalresearch.ca/video-corona-virus-eco…

What Happens In the Wake of the COVID-19 Lockdown? Economic Destruction, Global Poverty, Bankruptcies, Mass Unemployment. Neoliberalism to the Rescue
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
In the wake of the lockdown: Bankruptcies and mass unemployment, the economic destabilization of entire countries. | Millions of people have lost their jobs, and their lifelong savings. They are unable to pay their home mortgages. | In developing countries, poverty and …
globalresearch.ca/what-happens-in-the-wa…

As US Reels From COVID-19, Trump Turns to Sanctions, War Making and Threats
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-15
The Trump admin has decisively chosen war over peace and conflict over cooperation. Yet it appears less able than ever to coerce the world into following its lead.
mintpressnews.com/us-reels-covid-19-trum…

Study: Coronavirus Has a Been a Massive Boon for America’s Billionaires
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-15
A new study found that in the past eight weeks alone, the country’s super wealthy have added a further $368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes.
mintpressnews.com/study-coronavirus-bill…

Arabs, UN Must Move to Swiftly Protect the Status of Palestinian Refugees
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
‘Heinous racism,’ is how the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor described a recent decision by Lebanese authorities to bar Palestinian refugee expats from returning to Lebanon. Lebanon’s restrictions on its ever-diminishing population of Palestinian refugees is nothing new. However, this event is particularly alarming as it may be linked to a long-term official policy regarding…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/arabs-un-mus…

Venezuela Shows World Under No Less Threat of War After Donald Trump’s First Term
ahtribune.com | 2020-05-15
When Donald Trump ran for president in the 2016 election, his criticisms of regime change presented a real opportunity for anti-war voices and organizations to demand an end to U.S. regime change wars abroad. That did not happen. In fact, the Trump administration has become even more bellicose amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Anti-war forces in the U.S. made the mistake of believing Donald Trump would truly make a difference in the bipartisan war agenda. Venezuela is facing th…
ahtribune.com/world/americas/venezuela/4…

Massachusetts Contact Tracing Program Handed to Clinton-Linked NGO with Questionable Past
Raul Diego | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-15
A new contact tracing program was recently unveiled in Massachusetts in partnership with Partners in Health, an NGO with links to US regime change operations, big pharma and the Clinton Foundation.
mintpressnews.com/massachusetts-contact-…

Covid-19 changes to NHS services may lead to worsening health inequalities
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-05-15
The decision to suspend non-urgent services at NHS hospitals in response to the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to worsening health inequalities.
imperial.ac.uk/news/197534/covid-19-changes-nhs-services-lead-worsening

“The Wuhan of the Americas”: U.S. Deports COVID-19-Positive Immigrants to Haiti & Guatemala
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-15
The United States continues to deport thousands during the coronavirus pandemic, causing a dangerous spread of COVID-19 to Central America and the Caribbean. We speak with Haitian American novelist Edwidge Danticat, who says “U.S. deportations to Haiti during coronavirus pandemic are ‘unconscionable,'” and go to Guatemala City for an update from reporter José Alejandro García Escobar.
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/15/us_deport…

“Can Democracy Survive the Pandemic?”: Election Hangs in the Balance as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-15
The coronavirus pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to the November presidential election, as President Trump and the GOP capitalize on the moment to attack voting rights. We speak with Emily Bazelon, staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, whose new cover story examines the bureaucratic and political challenges of mobilizing widespread vote-by-mail by November. We also speak with Jena Griswold, secretary of state of Colorado, which already has universal vote-by-mail and the second-highest voter turnout in the country.
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/15/securing_…

Democracy At Stake: “Faithless Electors” SCOTUS Case Tests If Electoral College Members Can Go Rogue
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-15
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case that could shape the outcome of future presidential elections. The question at hand was whether Electoral College members can “go rogue” and support candidates who did not win the state’s popular vote. In 2016, one of Colorado’s nine electors, Michael Baca, attempted to cast his Electoral College ballot for Republican John Kasich instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton. The Colorado secretary of state at the time

Our Greener, Climate-Friendly Future Is Going to Be Amazing—It’s Our Job to Tell That Story
Jamie Henn | commondreams.org | 2020-05-15
The Green New Deal is a brilliant vision of sweeping, national change, but there’s still more work to be done to translate that vision down to an individual level. (Photo: iStock/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/views/2020/05/15/our-gr…

DeVos’s Channeling of CARES Act Funds Seen as Boosting ‘Perennial Goal’ of Advancing Voucher Program
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-05-15
New reporting on the Education Secretary’s directing of the money follows concern by a House Democrat that DeVos may be hampering “the response of public school systems in the states most severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis.” | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/05/15/devoss-…

Roaming Charges: Unmasked and Anonymous
Jeffrey St. Clair | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
I’m hyped for some ObamaGate action, as long as its about things that matter: health care plan designed by Heritage Foundation, bailing out Wall Street, failing to close Gitmo, droning US citizens, Afghan surge, the jailing of whistleblowers and legal harassment of journalists, the Libyan and Honduran coups, mass surveillance, the funding and arming of proxy wars in Yemen and Syria, record deportations, Deepwater Horizon, new nukes (both power plants and weapons), etc…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/roaming-char…

In the Race for Immunity, Sweden Leads the Pack
Mike Whitney | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
In a pandemic, there is no substitute for immunity, because immunity provides the best protection against reinfection. That’s why Sweden set its sights on immunity from the very beginning. They crafted a policy that was designed to protect the old …
globalresearch.ca/immunity-sweden/571300…

In the Race for Immunity, Sweden Leads the Pack
Mike Whitney | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
In a pandemic, there is no substitute for immunity, because immunity provides the best protection against reinfection. That’s why Sweden set its sights on immunity from the very beginning. They crafted a policy that was designed to protect the old …
globalresearch.ca/immunity-sweden/571300…

Dark Winter? Honey Badger Trump Don’t Care
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
“This coalition of the business elite, right-wing Christian evangelicals, and white nationalists and other white supremacists is very dangerous. Fascism is ultimately a death cult.”

Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, America’s Billionaires Thrive and Prosper
Lawrence Wittner | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-05-15
Although most Americans currently face hard times, with unemployment surging to the levels of the Great Depression and enormous numbers of people sick or dying from the coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s super-rich remain a notable exception. Financially, they are doing remarkably well. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, between March 18 and April 28, …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/05/amid-the-coro…

China’s International Solidarity Aid to the World During the Corona Pandemic
Stansfield Smith | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-05-15
China’s worldwide assistance and medical aid to other countries to combat the coronavirus is barely covered in the corporate press. Instead, the US has ramped up its anti-China campaign to cover up its own incompetence in combating the virus. As John Pilger shows in his Obama era film The Coming War on China, this is no …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/05/chinas-intern…

Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh °presente!
Editor | workers.org | 2020-05-15
This editorial first appeared on workers.org on May 18, 2018. We celebrate on May 19 the birthdays of two world-bending revolutionaries, Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X. Born in 1890 in central Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was the Marxist-Leninist communist who forged and led a people’s movement and army that . . . | Continue reading Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh °presente! at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48635/?utm_source=rs…

‘Matarife’: Colombia’s narconovela of the decade?
Adriaan Alsema | colombiareports.com | 2020-05-15
Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe is finally getting his own “narconovela,” courtesy of the journalist who got the Supreme Court to investigate his alleged rigging of the 2018 elections.
colombiareports.com/matarife-colombias-n…

“Faithless Electors” SCOTUS Case Tests If Electoral College Members Can Go Rogue
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-15
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case that could shape the outcome of future presidential elections. The question at hand was whether Electoral College members can “go rogue” and support candidates who did not win the state’s popular vote. In 2016, one of Colorado’s nine electors, Michael Baca, attempted to cast his Electoral College ballot for Republican John Kasich instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton. The Colorado secretary of state at the time

‘Time to APOLOGIZE!’ Orban hits back at critics as he plans to hand back emergency Covid-19 powers that caused major spat with EU
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has said emergency laws granting his government the right to rule by decree during the Covid-19 crisis will be rescinded soon and those who accused him of using it as a power grab should “apologize. | Orban secured open-ended emergency powers from parliament at the end of March, angering the country’s opposition and triggering a spat with Brussels. The move predictably ignited a fresh round of condemnation in Western media as the PM was accused of dismantling democracy and taking another step toward “authoritarianism.” | Now, having announced that he expects parliament will be able to…
rt.com/news/488800-orban-covid-emergency…

Senator Bernie Sanders Says We Must Be “Flexible and Aggressive” to Save Small Businesses
commondreams.org | 2020-05-15
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2020/05/15/sen…

Climate Crisis: KXL Ruling, Unity Task Force, California Pollution, and TRNN’s New Climate Reporter
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-05-15
Climate activists get a big court win on Keystone XL as the Biden and Sanders camps unite. California has delayed air pollution rules at the behest of industry during COVID-19 as polluting oil tankers line its coast.
therealnews.com/columns/climate-crisis-k…

Anonymous shootings target students as violence against activists increases in Chile
Carole Concha Bell | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
Chile has had a turbulent few months. And at the end of April, a dozen people were shot from an unmarked car in one of Santiago’s most populated suburbs, La Florida, during a peaceful protest. This was not an isolated incident. Violence against students and protesters by anonymous attackers has…
thecanary.co/feature/2020/05/15/anonymou…

Jailing people who use Covid-19 as bioweapon would be ‘discrimination.’ So better lock up everyone instead?
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Accidentally spreading Covid-19 is wanting grandma dead, say opponents of ending lockdowns. Yet activists now worry that proposed laws to punish those who threaten to spread it deliberately would discriminate against minorities. | A Florida man spat and coughed on a police officer responding to a domestic violence call, and faces up to five years in prison on a federal charge of biological weapons hoax (he was negative for Covid-19). Another man in Texas, who falsely claimed on Facebook that he paid someone to spread the virus at local grocery stores, was charged with the same thing. A Michigan man who wiped h…
rt.com/usa/488692-criminalizing-covid-di…

Puebla Group Discusses Peace in Colombia and Pandemic Crisis
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
The Puebla Group today is discussing the peace process in Colombia, the health crisis, and the regional economy, during a new virtual meeting that brings together progressive leaders from Latin America. | RELATED: | Puebla Group to Analyze COVID-19 Crisis in Latin America | Colombia is the host of the new virtual meeting, in the voices of former President Ernesto Samper and former Minister of Labor Clara Lopez Obregon. | “Peace measures are the level of civilization of a country,” sa…
telesurenglish.net/news/puebla-group-to-…

Give Peace a Chance: Saudi Arabia and the UAE Jostle for Position in War-Ravaged Countries for Contracts
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-05-15
Is the coronavirus, which has hit GCC countries quite hard, going to fuel proxy wars further with the economic objective of fortunes to be made, once the fighting stops? Or dig them in deeper? Don’t overlook Russia in the scramble for reconstruction contracts. | The bigger they are, the harder they fall. This certainly applies to countries in the GCC which are attempting to pick themselves up again. It’s a cruel irony, some might argue, that the UAE’s diversification in its economy away from oil dependency, made it more vulnerable than Saudi Arabia’s and so was hit harder by the virus. An economy dependent on tou…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/15/gi…

A universal appeal for humanity to end militarism and stop war
Abdallah El Harif | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-15
On March 15, 1950, the World Peace Council sent out the Stockholm Appeal, a short text that called for a ban on nuclear weapons and that would eventually be signed by almost 2 million people. The appeal was made up of three elegant sentences: | -We demand the outlawing of atomic weapons as instruments of intimidation and mass murder of peoples. We demand strict international control to enforce this measure. | -We believe that any government which first uses atomic weapons against any other country whatsoever will be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal. | -We call on a…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/15/a-univers…

A universal appeal for humanity to end militarism and stop war
Abdallah El Harif | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-15
On March 15, 1950, the World Peace Council sent out the Stockholm Appeal, a short text that called for a ban on nuclear weapons and that would eventually be signed by almost 2 million people. The appeal was made up of three elegant sentences: | -We demand the outlawing of atomic weapons as instruments of intimidation and mass murder of peoples. We demand strict international control to enforce this measure. | -We believe that any government which first uses atomic weapons against any other country whatsoever will be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal. | -We call on a…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/15/a-univers…

Jordan’s king warns Israel of ‘massive conflict’ if it proceeds with West Bank annexation plans
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned Israel of a “massive conflict” if it proceeds with plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank. | Israel has vowed to annex Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley. The move could spell the end of the long-stalled peace process by making it virtually impossible to establish a viable Palestinian state. | “Leaders who advocate a one-state solution do not understand what that would mean,” Jordan’s king said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel. | European Union foreign ministers met on Friday to discuss what action the bloc might take in response to Israe…
rt.com/newsline/488812-jordan-israel-con…

No Lockdowns: The Terrifying Polio Pandemic of 1949-52
Jeffrey A. Tucker | anti-empire.com | 2020-05-15
World War II had ended four years earlier and the U.S. was trying to return to peace and prosperity. Price controls and rationing were ended. Trade was opening. People were returning to normal life. The economy started humming again. Optimism for the future was growing. Harry Truman became the symbol of a new normacy. From Depression and war, society was on the mend. | As if to serve as a reminder that there were still threats to life and liberty present, an old enemy made its appearance: polio. It’s a disease with ancient origins, with its most terrifying effect, the paralysis of the lower extremities. It mai…
anti-empire.com/no-lockdowns-the-terrify…

Finland: Schools Reopen Despite Health Situation
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
Finland’s Education Ministry reopened Thursday schools after a two-month closure period due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Pre-school and elementary school children were the first to return their activities. | RELATED: | Tense Calm in Montenegro After Day of Mass Protests | “Experts affirm schools reopening would have a minimal impact on the pandemic, but grand benefits for children,” Education Minister Li Andersson said, adding that her office instructed municipality authorities to enforce p…
telesurenglish.net/news/finland-schools-…

Bolivia: Añez Backs Down, Annuls Decree Against Speech Freedom
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
Due to pressure stemming from human rights defenders, Bolivia’s coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez Thursday was forced to repeal a decree allowing it to extend restrictions on freedom of expression during the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | Bolivia De-Facto Govt Repress Protesters That Can’t Afford More Lockdown | The ‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äãdecree issued on May 7 aimed at…
telesurenglish.net/news/bolivias-coupbor…

Ecuador: Human Rights Organizations Denounce Police Brutality
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
Ecuador’s Human Rights organizations Thursday denounced that police force abuse against pacific protesters in Guayaquil. Claimers denounced the negligence of health authorities in corpses counting and handling. | RELATED: | Ecuador Faces Wave of Corruption Amid Pandemic | Protesters gathered at Centenary Park for a sit-in demonstration against both President Lenin Moreno’s budget cuts and lack of economic aid for those in need. | “We are mourning and resisting,” was their protest’s maxim. Cit…
telesurenglish.net/news/ecuador-human-ri…

Tampa students demand COVID-19 relief for undocumented students
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-15
Tampa, FL – On May 14, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a car protest at the University of South Florida (USF) to demand COVID-19 relief funds for undocumented students. USF has offered no financial help for undocumented students during the pandemic and the only COVID-19 aid for students is the CARES Act Fund, for which DACA and undocumented students are ineligible. | Students and SDS members parked near the USF president’s mansion on campus for socially-distanced speeches and chants demanding that USF provide relief for undocumented students. Simon Rowe, a member of SDS stated, “DACA stude…
fightbacknews.org/2020/5/15/tampa-studen…

500,000 Germans apply to take part in Stuttgart lockdown protest, but police RESTRICT rally to 5,000 due to ‘social distancing’
rt.com | 2020-05-15
The city of Stuttgart has reluctantly agreed to let a demonstration go ahead on Saturday, ordering that masks be worn on public transport and people stay apart, after dissent over the lockdown swept across Germany last weekend. | Five thousand protesters are set to hit the streets of the southwestern city to protest Covid-19 restrictions. And that’s only one percent of the half a million who applied to take part in the rally against Covid-19 prevention measures. | The local government has permitted only a limited number of protestors, and also requires them to maintain social distancing. Anyone caught travelin…
rt.com/news/488790-social-distancing-pro…

MI Legislature Cancels Work as “Reopen” Protesters Call for Whitmer’s “Lynching”
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-15
The Michigan state legislature called off meetings scheduled to take place on Thursday as demonstrations were set to take place against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order. | According to state police, 200 individuals took part in a demonstration near the capitol building in Lansing against Whitmer’s social distancing measures, which were put in place in order to stem the spread o…
truthout.org/articles/mi-legislature-can…

Socialism and Collective Responses: Attacking Venezuela in a Pandemic
Macdonald Stainsby | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
That feeling of international solidarity. This pandemic has brought terror in daily life to many, including this home where a 79 year old with COPD resides. Global calls of “we are all in this together” have served to blunt the bleakness in the face of unprecedented threats to our collective health. However, the initial rush…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/socialism-an…

If the media’s on Starmer’s side, you know something’s very, very wrong
Ed Sykes | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
The last five years have been a nightmare. And as a result, we have a government whose handling of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has been fatally incompetent. Another result is a new opposition leader who seems to have the disgraced media establishment firmly behind him. | To escape this nightmare, we need to learn from it. | Five years of establishment terror: | The political and econ…
thecanary.co/opinion/2020/05/15/if-the-m…

Biden Can’t Return Things to Normal, Because Trump Is a Normal US President. That’s the Problem
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-05-15
To be clear, this is not a good thing. Trump has kept the bloodthirsty imperialism, corporate cronyism, Orwellian oppression, neoliberal exploitation and police militarization that holds the US empire together ticking along in basically the same way as his predecessors, in some ways more egregiously and in some ways less so.
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/15/bi…

Guaidó and the Failed Military Operation Against Venezuela: a Story of Betrayal and Financial Corruption
Patricio Zamorano | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Now that we have had a few days to study the failed, illegal paramilitary incursion by a group of American and Venezuelan mercenaries into Venezuela, some key details have emerged in this incredible story. They reveal the internal dynamics of the fractured, demoralized, and financially corrupt nature of the hardline sectors of the opposition. Much…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/guaido-and-t…

South Africa To Protect Groundwater From Massive Burials
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
The South African Cemeteries Association (SACA) Friday warned that burial land could not be sufficient given the current spreading rate of the COVID-19. | RELATED: | China: 5 Five Vaccines to Go Into Large-Scale Testing by July | Because of the likely proliferation of makeshift cemeteries, bacteria, decomposition resulting substances, and the virus could seep into underground water reserves. | Sanitary authorities must take into account circumstances such as grave depth, buries…
telesurenglish.net/news/South-Africa-To-…

China: 5 Five Vaccines to Go Into Large-Scale Testing by July
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) predicts that five coronavirus vaccines that have entered the second phase of clinical trials will pass that phase in July. | RELATED: | Trump Threatens to Break Ties With China Over COVID-19 Issues | “We have registered none serious adverse effects on the volunteers during the tests. If everything goes as planned, the projects would finish the second part of their tests in July,” the NHC deputy director Zeng Yixin said. | China has five…
telesurenglish.net/news/China-5-Five-Vac…

Lebanon’s Govt. to Inquire Into Causes of Currency Devaluation
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab Friday announced that his government will investigate the devaluation of the Lebanese pound, which has brought the country’s economy to its most critical point. | RELATED: | Over 330 People Wounded in Lebanon After Clashes in Beirut | “The people have the right to know the causes of the increase in the price of the dollar and who is behind the devaluation our national currency,” Diab stressed. | Currently, the dollar is quoted at 4,000 Lebanese…
telesurenglish.net/news/lebanon-to-clari…

‘Together We’ll Overcome’ ANC Leader Tells the World’s Peoples
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
The African National Congress (ANC) General Secretary Elias Sekgobelo Magashule Friday delivered a public lecture about the significance of human solidarity and internationalism and the role of the Cuban revolution in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism. | RELATED: | Venezuela Denounces US at UN Security Council | “We are proud and much encouraged that young…
telesurenglish.net/news/Together-Well-Ov…

Chile Digs Thousands of Graves to Face COVID-19 Deaths Surge
telesurenglish.net | 2020-05-15
Santiago city’s general cemetery is digging thousands of graves to deal with the possible increase in deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | Chile Announces Strict Measures to Prevent Spread of COVID-19 | The alarms went off when Chile recorded 2,660 infections in a single day on Wednesday. “So far, about 1,000 graves have been set up,” the general cemetery director Rashid Saud said. | Although the cemetery clears unclaimed graves every year, it is the first time this…
telesurenglish.net/news/chile-digs-thous…

PDF download of May 14 issue
A. Majumdar | workers.org | 2020-05-15
Download entire 12-page PDF here. Justice for Ahmaud Arbery. Kent State and Jackson State. Also: COVID‚Äë19: capitalism’s end stage; workers resist. Editorial: Changing narrative in Michigan. World: China, Vietnam, Haiti, Ecuador. Tear down prisons: victory in PA; San Quentin caravan; No cages for migrants; Global prisons & white supremacy; Solidarity . . . | Continue reading PDF download of May 14 issue at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48613/?utm_source=rs…

For Cuba and Venezuela, US Silence May Not Be Golden
W. T. Whitney | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
The U. S. President and his Secretary of State frequently expound about the supposed failings of enemies abroad. Recently they’ve blasted China’s response to the pandemic, Venezuela’s dictatorship, Cuba’s “slave doctors” overseas, and even Iranian border guards beating up on Afghan migrants. But they’ve been mostly silent about two recent disruptions of the imperialist status…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/for-cuba-and…

PDF download of May 14 issue
A. Majumdar | workers.org | 2020-05-15
Download entire 12-page PDF here. Justice for Ahmaud Arbery. Kent State and Jackson State. Also: COVID‚Äë19: capitalism’s end stage; workers resist. Editorial: Changing narrative in Michigan. World: China, Vietnam, Haiti, Ecuador. Tear down prisons: victory in PA; San Quentin caravan; No cages for migrants; Global prisons & white supremacy; Solidarity . . . | Continue reading PDF download of May 14 issue at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48613/?utm_source=rs…

Russia ends federal COVID-19 shutdown measures as it surges to second place in infections worldwide
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
There are now more coronavirus infections in Russia than anywhere else in the world, with the exception of the United States and Spain.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/russ…

Declassified Mueller investigation transcripts confirm no evidence WikiLeaks colluded with Russia
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
The “Russian connection” was baldly asserted by the Democratic Party, US intelligence officials and the corporate media…
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/assa…

The drums of economic nationalism are beating louder
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
A series of comments published in the New York Times in recent days points to the rise of economic nationalism within the US political establishment the logic of which is war against China.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/ustr…

UPS Teamsters plan call-in to demand hazard pay
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-15
Salt Lake City, UT – UPS Teamsters are working extremely long hours in hazardous conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, putting themselves and their families at risk with no hazard pay. UPS was late to provide sufficient personal protective equipment for workers and only did so after workers demanded it. Still, many areas lack the appropriate PPE to stay safe at work. The Teamsters union has not put hazard pay on the negotiating table for UPS Teamsters; workers are organizing on the shop floor to win their demand. UPS recently announced their quarterly profits at almost $1 billion. | “UPS is making hundreds of…
fightbacknews.org/2020/5/15/ups-teamster…

HEROES Act Includes Utility Shutoff Ban, $4 Billion For Broadband Access
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-05-15
Republicans oppose the HEROES Act provision to expand broadband, but students and educators say lack of internet access is a major roadblock to learning in low income and rural communities.
therealnews.com/columns/heroes-act-inclu…

COVID-19 Planning: Is It Time to Nationalize Big Pharma?
Michael Barker | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Pharmaceutical corporations make billions providing drugs to help improve some people’s lives, in much the same way that privately-run hospitals provide care to those who can afford to pay. But Big Pharma is not a caring industry. Big Pharma has done some truly despicable things over the past hundred years or so. This is why…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/covid-19-pla…

Simple Solution to California’s Anticipated $54 Billion Budget Deficit
Rick Baum | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
The California Department of Finance recently projected that the state is facing a $54 billion deficit. There is hope for a bailout from the federal government. Given the current political make-up of the national government, does anyone want to count on what should be viewed as the goodwill of reactionaries such as Senate Majority Leader…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/simple-solut…

UK universities prepare all-out assault on staff and students in wake of pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
With the coronavirus pandemic leading to a drop in student numbers, up to 60,000 workers could lose their jobs as universities face a £2.5 billion funding black hole.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/high…

The Fed Hasn’t Spent a Dime Yet for Main Street Versus $735 Billion for Wall Street
Pam Martens, Russ Martens | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
The stimulus bill known as the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) was signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27. Among its many features (such as direct checks to struggling Americans and enhancing unemployment compensation by $600 per week for four months to unemployed workers so they could pay…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/the-fed-hasn…

Andrea Circle Bear and six centuries of genocide
Mirinda Crissman | workers.org | 2020-05-15
Andrea Circle Bear, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation near Eagle Butte, S.D., was the 29th federal inmate to die due to the coronavirus in Bureau of Prisons custody. She was sentenced to serve 26 months. Circle Bear was being held at Tripp County Jail in South Dakota up until . . . | Continue reading Andrea Circle Bear and six centuries of genocide at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48658/?utm_source=rs…

The Trump administration vs. science
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
The president’s attack on his top coronavirus advisor, Anthony Fauci, is part of an appeal to the most backward and reactionary forces to support the deadly policy of “reopening” the US economy.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/pers…

“Corona demonstrations” in Germany: Neo-Nazis join hands with Free Democrats, Christian Democrats and Left Party
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
The FDP’s leader in Thuringia, Thomas Kemmerich, participated in a demonstration against the measures put in place to restrict the spread of the coronavirus. Like other such mobilisations in Germany, it was dominated by the extreme right.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/kemm…

Andrea Circle Bear and six centuries of genocide
Mirinda Crissman | workers.org | 2020-05-15
Andrea Circle Bear, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation near Eagle Butte, S.D., was the 29th federal inmate to die due to the coronavirus in Bureau of Prisons custody. She was sentenced to serve 26 months. Circle Bear was being held at Tripp County Jail in South Dakota up until . . . | Continue reading Andrea Circle Bear and six centuries of genocide at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48658/?utm_source=rs…

Do the Most Severe Lockdowns Coincide to the Highest COVID-19 Death Rates?
Winslow Wheeler | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
The organization Our World in Data is running an article on the severity of government lockdown policies used to deal with the Covid-19 disease, “How Are Governments Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic?”. It is shows rankings of the severity (“stringency”) on nine measures of lockdown policies throughout the world; it also addresses testing and tracking.
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/do-the-most-…

Whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright testifies winter could be ‘darkest in modern history’
John Wojcik | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-15
Dr. Rick Bright, the top Health and Human Services official dumped by Trump for blowing the whistle on the administration’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic, testified to Congress Thursday that essentially everything the president is saying about his administration’s response to the pandemic is a lie. One of the most damaging of those lies, …
peoplesworld.org/article/whistleblower-d…

The Real Coronavirus Victims: Relations between People
Dr. Pascal Sacré | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
“Only touch, medicine and speech can truly heal. ª |

Foreign Policy Sees ‘Repression’ in Vietnam’s Fight Against Coronavirus – In the US, government may surveill you, but at least it doesn’t protect your health
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2020-05-15
Foreign Policy ( 5/12/20) illustrates a story on “repression” in Vietnam with a photo of a “propaganda poster” encouraging people to wear masks. | A recent piece in Foreign Policy ( 5/12/20) is headed with a photograph of a placard that features an image of a nurse demonstrating the importance of wearing a face mask as both personal and interpersonal protection against the coronavirus. But reader beware: It’s not pu…
fair.org/home/foreign-policy-sees-repres…

Back to work, or else: Trump administration tells states to pull unemployment benefits
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-15
WASHINGTON–GOP President Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia, and his #2 who runs the agency that oversees jobless benefits want employers to report–and states to bar benefits from–workers who fear returning to their old jobs because their employers won’t protect them against the coronavirus. The memo, from John Pallasch, a GOP operative, an advocate for …
peoplesworld.org/article/back-to-work-or…

German auto bosses demand government subsidies and job cuts
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
The German auto industry is using the coronavirus crisis to implement its long-planned transition to electro-mobility and digitalisation. Its main partner is the company union, the IG Metall.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/auto…

The Real Coronavirus Victims: Relations between People
Dr. Pascal Sacré | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
“Only touch, medicine and speech can truly heal. ª |

India: Right wing uses COVID-19 to implement 12-hour workday, 72-hour week
IndustriALL | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-15
Some Indian states are using coronavirus as a pretext to attack working conditions. Many have increased the working day to 12 hours, while others have suspended or provided exemptions to labor law. State governments, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh, have increased the workday to 12 hours and the standard workweek to …
peoplesworld.org/article/india-right-win…

Rushed relaxation of coronavirus measures in Germany puts thousands of lives at risk
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
With the general relaxation of the coronavirus measures, cases in schools, retirement homes, local transport, industry and the entire working population are inevitably on the rise again.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/rela…

Ari Berman on Voter Suppression and Coronavirus
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2020-05-15
Media…
fair.org/home/ari-berman-on-voter-suppre…

Colombia’s opposition filing criminal charges against 9 generals and Duque ally over illegal spying
Adriaan Alsema | colombiareports.com | 2020-05-15
Colombia’s opposition announced criminal charges against nine army generals and an ideologue of President Ivan Duque’s far-right political party, which again found itself accused of having ties to the mafia….
colombiareports.com/colombias-opposition…

Fake pandemic science and conspiracy theories a key part of far-right agenda
Kimball Cariou | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-15
When is science not actually scientific? One answer is that research which cherry-picks and manipulates facts to support a preconceived hypothesis is not truly scientific. Long after Galileo and Copernicus demolished the Ptolemaic theory, some highly educated scientists kept creating astronomical models showing that the sun, planets, and stars revolve around Earth. The sheer weight …
peoplesworld.org/article/fake-pandemic-s…

Trump Unveils Plan That Would See Big Pharma Reap Massive Profits from COVID-19 Vaccine
Raul Diego | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-15
President Trump has revealed a plan to mobilize the US military to deliver mass vaccinations across the country, coupled with Operation Warp Speed, a “Manhattan project-style” race to produce a COVID-19 vaccine.
mintpressnews.com/trump-plan-big-pharma-…

Political Prisoners Teach-In: ‘We got out because of the people’
a guest author | workers.org | 2020-05-15
These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the “U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners” webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. By Janet Africa On the Move! Happy . . . | Continue reading Political Prisoners Teach-In: ‘We got out because of the people’ at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48650/?utm_source=rs…

Political Prisoners Teach-In: ‘We got out because of the people’
| workers.org | 2020-05-15
These slightly edited remarks were given April 24 at the “U.S. Empire vs. Political Prisoners” webinar teach-in sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and held in honor of the 66th birthday of political prisoner and revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal, incarcerated for 39 years by the U.S. state. By Janet Africa On the Move! Happy . . . | Continue reading Political Prisoners Teach-In: ‘We got out because of the people’ at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48650/?utm_source=rs…

The struggle and personal growth
Sue Harris | workers.org | 2020-05-15
What motivates some people to dominate and/or destroy, based on their illusory sense of superiority, even when it is against their own interests? Who are these people who profess to be acting in the name of “freedom and individual liberty,” while gathering together and refusing to wear protective masks in . . . | Continue reading The struggle and personal growth at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48641/?utm_source=rs…

Iran Is Not A Victim, It Is One of The Most Influential and Strong-Minded Nations on Earth
ahtribune.com | 2020-05-15
When facing mortal danger, its people unite, harden themselves and get ready to face invaders, no matter how threatening they might be. | Iran is home to one of the oldest and deepest cultures in the world, and it’s precisely this culture that helps Iranian people to survive the most frightening moments. | And one such moment is sadly, right now. | *** | US battleships are sailing right next to the Iranian territorial waters. One mistake, one false move, and war could erupt, engulfing the entire region in flames. Iran is a proud nation, and it takes its independence extremely seriously. | Right now, the countr…
ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-w…

‘Not their business’: Iran slams US threats to reimpose UN sanctions
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-15
The US has threatened to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran if its draft resolution to extend the arms embargo is vetoed in the UN Security Council…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/15/not-their…

War and Plagues: Military Spending During a Pandemic
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-05-15
Conn HALLINAN”There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet plagues and wars take people equally by surprise” |

How Economic Misery Helped Fuel the Syrian War
Louis Proyect | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Ever since the civil war began in Syria in early 2011, the left has largely ignored the social and economic circumstances that led to a conflict costing over a half-million deaths and the migration–internal and external–of half the population. The tendency was to see Syria as a piece on a global chessboard with…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/how-economic…

War and Plagues: Military Spending During a Pandemic
Conn Hallinan | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Welcome to the world of the hypersonic weapons, devices that are not only superfluous, but which will almost certainly not work, They will, however, cost enormous amounts of money. At a time when countries across the globe are facing economic chaos, financial deficits and unemployment at Great Depression levels, arms manufacturers are set to cash in big.
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/war-and-plag…

US whistleblower warns premature return to work will bring “unprecedented illness and fatalities”
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
Dr. Rick Bright warned yesterday that the pandemic “has the potential to eclipse the devastation wrought by the 1918 influenza, which globally claimed over 50 million lives.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/covi…

Corruption and the Pandemic Bailout
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Neil Irwin had an interesting New York Times piece on how concerns about moral hazard in the bailout may damage the recovery. The gist of the article is that the fear that bad actors will be wrongly rewarded will prevent us from spending enough money to get the economy back on its feet. Irwin’s point…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/corruption-a…

COVID-19: Construir os empregos do futuro AGORA!
Flávio Gonàßalves | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Reconstruir as economias depois da pandemia de COVID-19 parece ser uma tarefa impossível dado ao contrário do que sucede numa guerra convencional nà£o há infra-estruturas a reconstruir, o que criaria emprego e relanàßaria a economia. Ou será esta a oportunidade …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-construir-os-…

Still in the Dark in Wisconsin
Bill Lueders | progressive.org | 2020-05-15
Health officials don’t have an up-to-date count of people who got COVID-19 after attending a ‘large gathering.’…
progressive.org/dispatches/still-in-the-…

COVID-19: Construir os empregos do futuro AGORA!
Flávio Gonàßalves | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Reconstruir as economias depois da pandemia de COVID-19 parece ser uma tarefa impossível dado ao contrário do que sucede numa guerra convencional nà£o há infra-estruturas a reconstruir, o que criaria emprego e relanàßaria a economia. Ou será esta a oportunidade …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-construir-os-…

The 2003 SARS epidemic: How Canada’s elite squandered the chance to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
Canada’s disastrous response to the pandemic is all the more criminal given the impact of SARS and the repeated government vows that the country’s health system would be well-prepared for any future novel virus.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/sars…

COVID-19: How Many are Really Unemployed and how Many British Companies are Going Bust
True Publica | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
The total amount of people who are unemployed right now seems to something of a closely guarded secret as is the amount of financial support that is really being dished out by the government. I suspect this has something to …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-how-many-are-…

The Covid-19 Testing Fiasco
Eve Ottenberg | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
From the start, testing for Covid-19 in the U.S. has been abysmal. Experts agree that without adequate testing, the disease cannot be stopped. Poor testing means no idea how many are infected or how to trace and quarantine their contacts or how to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. There has been speculation that the Trump…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/the-covid-19…

#Unis4all: An Open Letter to the U.S. Higher Education Community
Maxximilian Seijo | mronline.org | 2020-05-15
Universities can immediately bypass feckless state & federal legislatures & finance themselves directly with “Unis” supported by the Federal Reserve For a growing majority of outspoken administrators and faculty, the economic fallout associated with the Covid-19 crisis threatens to catapult U. S. higher education into a draconian age of austerity, layoffs, and closures. The question, …
mronline.org/2020/05/15/unis4all-an-open…

Plan Now for Vaccination Decisions to Come
Joe Amon | progressive.org | 2020-05-15
Who should be first in line for a COVID-19 vaccine once it is available?
progressive.org/op-eds/plan-for-vaccinat…

As Corporations Adapt to a COVID-19 Economy, the Working-Class Prepares for a Paradigm Shift
Raul Diego | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-15
As social distancing measures persist across the country, corporations are setting in a “new normal” where most people are safely squirreled away in their homes, with paradigm-shifting implications for the working classes.
mintpressnews.com/corporations-adapt-cov…

The Secretive Police Commission The Justice Department Doesn’t Want You To Notice
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-05-15
PAR learns about life under lockdown with COVID-19 from a guest just released from 10 months of incarceration, and examines the secretive police commission created by Attorney General Barr.
therealnews.com/stories/police-accountab…

Workingman’s Blues (COVID 19 Version)
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
I went back to work last week. Even though neither I most of my fellow workers are convinced library books are an essential service, the fact that we are once again loaning them out appeals to a certain pretense that they are. This is despite the fact that libraries–both public and academic–are often the first…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/workingmans-…

US grocery stores and retailers move to cut pandemic pay to workers
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
Kroger, Starbucks and other companies plan to end hazard-related bonuses, including pay increases and paid work leave, even as the number of new COVID-19 infections and deaths in the US continues to rise.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/groc…

After FCA Sterling Heights Assembly workers contract COVID-19, anger mounts over premature return to work
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
Anxiety over a premature return to work has been heightened after reports that several workers in the Detroit area have already been sent home with suspected COVID-19 infections.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/cars…

The Secretive Police Commission The Justice Department Doesn’t Want You To Notice
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-05-15
PAR learns about life under lockdown with COVID-19 from a guest just released from 10 months of incarceration, and examines the secretive police commission created by Attorney General Barr.
therealnews.com/stories/police-accountab…

Why Capitalism Can’t Cure Global Pandemics
Prabir Purkayastha | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
We frequently hear that COVID-19 is the worst pandemic since the influenza of 1918. It is forgotten that another pandemic known as “the third plague” (because it was “the third major bubonic plague outbreak to affect European society”) killed millions from the 1890s to the 1950s in Asia’s southern, southeastern, and eastern regions, continuing well…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/why-capitali…

US Senator Richard Burr steps down as intelligence chairman amid investigation into pre-pandemic stock dump
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
As part of an ongoing Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission’s probe into insider trading, FBI agents have seized the North Carolina senator’s personal cell phone.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/burr…

US-Backed Militants Steal a Bank of the Syrian State in Hasakah City then Hand It to US Forces
ahtribune.com | 2020-05-15
Armed groups of the US-backed “Syrian Democratic Forces” have stolen the Syrian Commercial Bank located within the security square of the Syrian state in Hasakah city. | Local sources from Hasaka said that during daylight hours, a large number of “SDF” militants attacked the bank and took control of the entire building after expelling the guards and employees from it and stealing the money and contents there. | The sources pointed out that after controlling the bank, the militants broke the iron fences and the walls surrounding it, then they stole its contents and transferred them to their centers before they…
ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-w…

Head of the Hydra: The Rise of Robert Kadlec
Raul Diego | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-15
WASHINGTON DC ( The Last American Vagabond)

Video: Ted Cruz to Zuckerberg: Is There Facebook Political Bias?
Mark Zuckerberg | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on whether or not there is a political bias at the social media giant. | . | . | . | …
globalresearch.ca/video-ted-cruz-zuckerb…

Canadians Must Ask Questions About the Mercenary Raid on Venezuela
Nino Pagliccia | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Details of the failed armed mercenary incursion on Venezuela are surfacing daily thanks to the prompt public information system from Venezuela and scant corporate media reports. The so-called Operation Gideon took off from Colombia on May 3 and was effectively …
globalresearch.ca/canadians-must-ask-que…

Canadians Must Ask Questions About the Mercenary Raid on Venezuela
Nino Pagliccia | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Details of the failed armed mercenary incursion on Venezuela are surfacing daily thanks to the prompt public information system from Venezuela and scant corporate media reports. The so-called Operation Gideon took off from Colombia on May 3 and was effectively …
globalresearch.ca/canadians-must-ask-que…

Video: Bill Gates’ and Rockefeller Foundation’s Plan to Track Americans
Dr. Joseph Mercola | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Bill Gates

Video: Ted Cruz to Zuckerberg: Is There Facebook Political Bias?
Mark Zuckerberg | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on whether or not there is a political bias at the social media giant. | . | . | . | …
globalresearch.ca/video-ted-cruz-zuckerb…

Video: Bill Gates’ and Rockefeller Foundation’s Plan to Track Americans
Dr. Joseph Mercola | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Bill Gates

In less than a month, Brazil sees two health ministers leave office
Brasil de Fato | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-15
Oncologist Nelson Teich asked to step down from his position as Minister of Health on Friday morning May 15, according to the government. A press conference will be held in the afternoon. | Teich took over the position as Health Minister on April 17, after Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired from the position. In Teich’s speech when assuming the position, he affirmed that he would work to ease social isolation measures, but in a “technical and scientific” way. | As of now, the individual expected to take over the position is General Eduardo Pazuello, the current number two in the ministry. | History: | While…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/15/in-less-t…

In less than a month, Brazil sees two health ministers leave office
Brasil de Fato | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-15
Oncologist Nelson Teich asked to step down from his position as Minister of Health on Friday morning May 15, according to the government. A press conference will be held in the afternoon. | Teich took over the position as Health Minister on April 17, after Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired from the position. In Teich’s speech when assuming the position, he affirmed that he would work to ease social isolation measures, but in a “technical and scientific” way. | As of now, the individual expected to take over the position is General Eduardo Pazuello, the current number two in the ministry. | History: | While…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/15/in-less-t…

Can We Simultaneously Oppose Bayer/Monsanto’s Biotechnology and Support Cuba’s Interferon Alpha 2B?
Don Fitz | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Genetically engineered crops are a form of food imperialism. This technology allows mega-corporations like Bayer/Monsanto to patent seeds, lure farmers into buying them with visions of high yields, and then destroy the ability of small farmers to survive. Genetic engineering produces an artificial combination of plant traits which often results in foods with less nutritional…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/can-we-simul…

The positive side of Colombia: ambassador can eat two families’ monthly income in just one lunch
Adriaan Alsema | colombiareports.com | 2020-05-15
Many Colombians may have no food, but that doesn’t mean their Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland, can’t have lunch that could sustain two families for…
colombiareports.com/the-positive-side-of…

The Sound and Fury of ‘America Strong’
Mike Ervin | progressive.org | 2020-05-15
What’s the best way to honor medical professionals during a pandemic? Why, with a public display of militarism, of course!
progressive.org/dispatches/sound-and-fur…

Almost 3 million more applied for Unemployment Insurance last week
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-15
San José, CA – On Thursday, May 14, the Labor Department reported more bad news, saying that almost 3 million people applied for unemployment insurance in the previous week ending May 9. This means that over the last eight weeks more than 36 million people applied after losing jobs and income. Another 3.5 million are collecting the federal government’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, which goes to the self-employed. This brings the total number of recently unemployed people to about 40 million. | This report was worse than mainstream economists expected, with a drop of only 200,000 from the week before,…
fightbacknews.org/2020/5/15/almost-3-mil…

How Biosecurity Is Enabling Digital Neo-Feudalism
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-05-15
Italian master thinker Giorgio Agamben has been on the

Chicagoland area Arabs and Muslims continue to fight racist, incompetent, township board during pandemic
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-15
Chicago, IL – On May 11, over 30 Arab and Muslim community members and their allies joined a Palos Township online meeting to continue demanding the resignation of the racist trustee, Sharon Brannigan. | Since the global pandemic forced the state of Illinois and its functions to be moved to digital forms, the Palos Township started to hold its monthly general meetings via Zoom. | The #ResignBrannigan coalition, which has been demanding the resignation of Brannigan since July of 2017, refused to let the quarantine get in the way of their campaign and took the fight to Zoom. | The meeting, like usual, became heated…
fightbacknews.org/2020/5/14/chicagoland-…

El Diego: the Two Lives of Maradona
Tony McKenna | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
22 June 1986. A world cup quarter-final is about to play out in the Estadio Azteca stadium at the heart of Mexico City. Under the billowing blue skies and the streaming sunlight the pitch is shadowless and pastel green. The teams line up. The English in white. The Argentinians in blue. As the Argentine anthem plays, the camera moves across the team, before lingering momentarily on the solemn, stormy features of the captain

Not Liberty, Happiness
Mateo Pimentel | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
In 1863, John Stuart Mill posited the utilitarian principle as the foundation of ethics. Even today this lets us weigh actions morally: the more happiness an action promotes, the more upright it is. But if this simple calculus allows us to determine the greatest good for the greatest number of people, then how do we…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/not-liberty-…

My Israeli Nemesis is Moving to America
Ariel Gold | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
My first run-in with Israeli politician Gilad Erdan took place on July 1, 2018, when I arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, passport and visa in hand. After seven hours of interrogation, I was told that Erdan had had my visa revoked and was sending me directly back to the U.S.
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/my-israeli-n…

End Game for Green Utopia
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
On these two opposing types of responses to the movie “Planet Of The Humans”: PRO: “The key, however, is that all these [‘greenish’] energy policies have to be carried out after capitalism has been wiped out and under conditions where production is based strictly on use.” CON:…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/end-game-for…

‘Boogaloo Boy’ Arrested in Texas, Charged With Plotting To Murder Cops on Facebook Live
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2020-05-15
“Boogaloo Boys”

“Truth in America R.I.P.”: In America there is only Official Truth, and It’s a Lie
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
In “freedom and democracy” America there is only official truth, and it is a lie. A person or website that speaks real truth is shunted aside as a “conspiracy theorist,” “Russian agent,” “racist,” “anti-semite,” or other such name with the …
globalresearch.ca/truth-america-r-i-p/57…

The Japanese Art of Avoiding Your Relatives (Or Why Covid-19 Flopped in Japan)
Ash Warren | anti-empire.com | 2020-05-15
Let’s say you do not get along with your mother-in-law and you do not wish to have contact with her like, ever. | Here are two possible methods you might employ. | The first is to burn down your house, fake your own death and move somewhere else under an assumed identity, or failing that to dig up the entire road between your place and hers, blow up her car and steal all her shoes. | This may discourage the urge to visit. | The other is to just not open the door when she knocks. | In many countries as we all well know, in order to avoid coming in contact with the dreaded Covid-19, which is possibly even more i…
anti-empire.com/the-japanese-art-of-avoi…

Democrats’ Relief Bill Would Let Lobbying Giants Access Small Business Aid
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-15
House Democrats’ newest coronavirus relief proposal would allow influential Washington lobbying groups

Trump Appoints Big Pharma Exec Connected to Bill Gates to Head Vaccine Developments
Derrick Broze | thelastamericanvagabond.com | 2020-05-15
On Friday, Donald Trump announced his appointment of Moncef Slaoui, a former executive with vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, to lead “Operation Warp Speed”, Trump’s plan to fast track the development of vaccines for COVID-19. Slaoui will serve in a volunteer position, assisted by Army Gen. Gustave Perna, the commander of United States Army Materiel Command. According …
thelastamericanvagabond.com/top-news/tru…

This U.S. State Has Already Established Legal Means for Mandatory Vaccinations
Derrick Broze | thelastamericanvagabond.com | 2020-05-15
While the U.S. government and global health “authorities” debate how quickly they can roll out Contact Tracing surveillance programs and fast track vaccines, Americans are left wondering and debating over whether the vaccinations programs for COVID-19 might end up being mandatory. It is true that Donald Trump has acknowledged that, “We are looking for a …
thelastamericanvagabond.com/top-news/thi…

‘Disturbing’: Messi freaks out fans with sloppy music video kiss with wife Antonela Roccuzzo (VIDEO)
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Lionel Messi can curl in free-kicks from 30 yards but his kissing skills leave a lot to be desired, if the reaction to a clumsy viral smooch with wife Antonela Roccuzzo is anything to go by. | Messi and partner Roccuzzo were filmed locking lips for the latest video by Puerto Rican rapper Residente. | The track – titled ‘Before the World Ends’ – features couples canoodling all around the world, including famous faces such as Hollywood star Ben Affleck and actress partner Ana de Armas, and Mexican boxer Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and his beau Fernanda Gómez. | But it’s the appearance of six-time Ballon d’Or wi…
rt.com/sport/488796-messi-kiss-wife-anto…

Coronavirus outbreak calls for new era in our relationship with animals
Peter Bolton | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
As The Canary has previously argued, the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak has prompted profound questions about how to reorganize human society in its aftermath. Now, a new report from a major US animal welfare organization has pointed out that we must also confront fundamental questions about humanity’s relationship with the animal world. | Tim…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

Government £1.6bn bailout of TfL will be paid for by ‘ordinary people doing the right thing’
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
Public transport users in London will be hit by fare increases and restrictions on free travel due to the Government’s £1.6 billion bailout of Transport for London (TfL).Mayor Sadiq Khan accused the Department for Transport (DfT) of “making ordinary Londoners pay the cost for doing the right thing on Covid-19”.The department said it included a series of caveats as part of the funding package “in order to safeguard services in the future”.Temporary measures consist of stopping free travel for children and only allowing people over 60 or with a disability to travel for free outside peak hours.London bus and t…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/05/15/governme…

‘Worrying data’ reveals more than 12,500 people in care homes have now died with Covid-19
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
More than 12,500 people living in care homes have now died with Covid-19, with the majority dying in their care home, new figures show.Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that just over one in four of all deaths of care home residents in England and Wales between March 2 and May 1 involved Covid-19.Of 45,899 care home residents who died during this period, 27% (12,526) had Covid-19 mentioned on their death certificate.Some 9,039 (72%) of the deaths occurred within a care home and 27% were in hospital.(PA Graphics)The latest data includes all care home residents who died with coronavirus eit…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

Vast majority support Scottish government’s lockdown strategy
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
The majority of the public back the Scottish government’s lockdown approach, according to polling announced by Nicola Sturgeon.At her daily coronavirus briefing on Friday, the first minister said government polling shows 84% support a “slow and gradual” lifting of restrictions, while 82% agree that before further significant changes to lockdown are made the impact of those already introduced should be assessed.The survey also found 86% said “decisions on when and how to lift restrictions must be based on saving lives and protecting the NHS”.Nicola Sturgeon said she will outline her thoughts on easing lockdown nex…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/05/15/vast-maj…

WHO special envoy sets out what’s wrong with Johnson’s timetable to end lockdown
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-05-15
The World Health Organisation’s coronavirus special envoy has warned the government against releasing lockdown measures until a comprehensive testing, tracking and isolating system is in place. | Dr David Nabarro said rather than giving specific dates for individual measures to be lifted, the government should say they will release the lockdown “when we know that we’ve got the defence mechanisms in place”. | Nabarro added that the test, track and isolate strategy has “been shown in other countries to be the key to living with the virus”. | He also stressed that a test, tracking and isolating defence system must b…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

Rearranging Desires Amidst Climate Catastrophe, COVID Chaos, and Capitalist Calamity
Nick Pemberton | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak states that her political goal is to rearrange desires. No goal is more pertinent to our present trying time. As Chuck Mertz refrains “the future ain’t what it used to be.” The coronavirus has exposed much of what we knew to be true, but counted on avoiding. What has become plain as…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/rearranging-…

One week after promising health supplies to southeast Colombia, government vows aid to bury the dead
Adriaan Alsema | colombiareports.com | 2020-05-15
Colombia’s government vowed to send cement to build repositories of Covid-19 deaths in the southeastern Amazonas province after promised health supplies never arrived. The situation in Colombia’s most remote province…
colombiareports.com/week-after-promising…

One week after promising health supplies to southeast Colombia, government vows aid to bury the dead
Adriaan Alsema | colombiareports.com | 2020-05-15
Colombia’s government vowed to send cement to build repositories of Covid-19 deaths in the southeastern Amazonas province after promised health supplies never arrived. The situation in Colombia’s most remote province…
colombiareports.com/week-after-promising…

Vice President Kamala Harris?
Andrew Levine | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-15
The Washington Post and other generally reliable sources of Washington (or is it Wilmington?) scuttlebutt report that Kamala Harris’s chances of becoming Joe Biden’s running-mate are on the rise. She wiped the floor with that doddering doofus in the debates, but they say that he doesn’t care anymore. More likely, he doesn’t remember. It could…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/vice-preside…

USPS Reportedly Considering Price Hikes as Trump’s Takeover Accelerates
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-15
With the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service soon to be completely under the control of President Donald Trump’s appointees, the agency has reportedly launched a review of its package prices and bulk delivery contracts as it faces the possibility of imminent collapse due in large part to the coronavirus crisis. | According to the Washington Post, USPS has in recent weeks “sought bids from consult…
truthout.org/articles/usps-reportedly-co…

Portland, Ore.: ‘U.S. mail not for sale’
Lyn Neeley | workers.org | 2020-05-15
Over 20 cars lined up to cheer postal workers during the afternoon shift change on May 8 at the Portland, Ore., United States Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center. Messages of solidarity were plastered over the cars and Elvis Presley’s “Return to Sender” was playing. Portland, Ore., car caravan shows . . . | Continue reading Portland, Ore.: ‘U.S. mail not for sale’ at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/05/48647/?utm_source=rs…

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: COVID-19 news briefing
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group, covers the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Poland discusses how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is changing, and how scientists and researchers are rapidly gaining new knowledge about the virus and the disease that it …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Why you need to keep your child’s vaccine schedule during COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Millions of children may be at risk of missing or delaying their routine childhood vaccines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Tina Ardon, a Mayo Clinic family medicine specialist, says she understands being thoughtful about taking your children outside the home for doctor’s visits during this time. “The current situation with the novel coronavirus shows us how scary …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/wh…

Mayo Clinic receives $26 million from BARDA for COVID-19 convalescent plasma expanded access program
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Mayo Clinic was awarded a $26 million contract today from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The financial support is for the Expanded Access Program (EAP) for convalescent plasma to fight COVID-19. …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: The “Quarantine 15”
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
It’s being called the “Quarantine 15” online

Mayo Clinic launches radio campaign to encourage recovered patients of COVID-19 to donate plasma
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Mayo Clinic is collaborating with Entercom Communications to launch a radio campaign that raises awareness in Detroit, New York City, Miami and Chicago of the federally-sponsored national Expanded Access Program (EAP) for Convalescent Plasma. The Food and Drug Administration announced Mayo Clinic as the lead site for the EAP program to speed access and increase availability of investigational convalescent plasma for hospitalized patients …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Cancer treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Because cancer treatments can weaken the immune system, cancer patients are at increased risk of complications from COVID-19. Despite these concerns, cancer patients often still need treatment, including going to the clinic or to the hospital, and many have questions about whether cancer should be treated differently during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the Mayo Clinic …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

New collaboration on COVID-19 response to include new serology test
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced it will expand its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by developing a total antibodies test in collaboration with WuXi Diagnostics and Mayo Clinic. The new test is the result of ongoing collaboration between all three organizations, including clinical evaluation and support from Mayo Clinic. Thermo Fisher will seek U.S. FDA …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ne…

FDA issues emergency use authorization for algorithm designed to improve detection of heart failure during COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
The FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization to Eko, a digital health company, for the heart screening algorithm developed by Mayo Clinic. The AI-driven algorithm can detect weak heart pump, which is commonly detected by echocardiogram, a test that is not normally conducted during a physical exam, requires specially trained technicians to record, and requires prolonged contact with …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/fd…

VIRUS: COVID-19 registry first to track global ICU experience to shed light on trends in care of critically ill patients
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill

Mayo Clinic reopens orthopedics and sports medicine facility in downtown Minneapolis
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
MINNEAPOLIS

Packing on pounds during COVID-19 and how to turn it around
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
If you’ve gained weight during the COVID-19 pandemic, you aren’t alone. The “Quarantine 15”

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: COVID-19 research at Mayo Clinic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Thanks to its combination of practice, education, and research, Mayo Clinic has a strong foundation to respond quickly to a medical crisis such as COVID-19. As the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread worldwide, a research task force was formed at Mayo Clinic to review and approve research proposals related to the virus and the disease it causes. …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Possible neurological effects of COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Originally identified as a respiratory disease, some COVID-19 patients exhibit neurologic symptoms including stroke, loss of consciousness, headache, and even the loss of taste and smell. What’s unknown is whether these are direct effects of the virus entering the nervous system, or consequences of the disease’s effect on the body. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Mayo Clinic’s comprehensive COVID-19 research
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Spring cleaning takes on a new importance during COVID-19 pandemic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released reopening guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting public spaces, workplaces, businesses, schools and homes. Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases expert, suggests taking a practical approach to spring cleaning. If no one in your household has been infected, he says standard spring cleaning practices …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sp…

National Nurses Day: Not all heroes wear capes
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Photo and article are courtesy of Mayo Clinic News Center andMayo Clinic Employee Facebook. Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear scrubs, protective equipment and step out in difficult times to be there for others. As COVID-19 continues to spread and people heed notices to socially distance themselves and hunker down in their homes, there …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/na…

Convalescent plasma advocate donates at Mayo Clinic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
A recovered COVID-19 patient who has become a strong nationwide advocate for the Convalescent Plasma Expanded Access Program made a plasma donation at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Chaim Lebovits became involved with the program in March and since then has rallied thousands, who have also recovered, to donate.The initiative, which Mayo Clinic is leading, studies …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/co…

Mayo Clinic expands in-person care on all campuses
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Mayo Clinic will expand in-person care on all of its campuses as COVID-19 executive orders are lifted for elective procedures by governors in Arizona, Florida, Minnesota and Wisconsin. “Our patients’ health and safety is always our top priority,” says Amy Williams, M.D., Mayo Clinic Executive Dean for Practice. “We have taken several extra precautions to …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

Masking your kids during COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-05-15
Do you or don’t you wear a mask? If you do, what material is best? And what about children? Questions around masks during the COVID-19 pandemic abound, especially in light of the recent recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that all Americans wear masks in public settings. “The direction around face masks has …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ma…

MILLIONS of Americans dead from Covid-19? 85k jobs lost? What? Joe Biden commits gaffe after gaffe in confusing broadcast
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Joe Biden has once again caught flak for his creative and often confusing oratory, this time after the former VP and presumptive Democratic nominee struggled to relay how many Americans have died from coronavirus. | Speaking during a “virtual round table,” Biden argued that playing the “blame game” during the ongoing health crisis would be counterproductive. But when it came time to relaying exactly what politicians might blame each other for, the presidential candidate faltered. | …
rt.com/usa/488756-biden-millions-covid-d…

Nord Stream 2 to challenge German regulator’s decision denying waiver of ‘discriminatory’ EU rules for gas pipeline from Russia
rt.com | 2020-05-15
The company building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has vowed to appeal Germany’s refusal to remove the multibillion-dollar project from the restrictions laid out in the “discriminatory” EU Gas Directive. | The latest amendment to the EU rules was greenlighted in April last year, long after Nord Stream 2 construction began. The legislature made the rules governing the European gas market apply to all pipelines to and from third countries. The new rule means Russia’s Gazprom, which designed the project, will be allowed to use not more than 50 percent of the pipeline capacity while allowing third parties to use…
rt.com/business/488738-germany-denies-wa…

‘We were totally helpless’: Russian woman jailed for SLAPPING ‘abusive’ Californian husband, mother tells RT
rt.com | 2020-05-15
What looked like an intercontinental fairytale romance turned into a story of domestic violence, when a Russian woman was arrested for slapping the American husband her mother says abused her. | When she married a Californian man last year, 30-year-old Krasnodar native Alina Alipatova couldn’t have imagined that the line between romance and fear could be crossed so fast. She met her future husband while holidaying in Miami and quickly fell in “big love” with him, the woman’s mother, Elena Gertsog, told RT this week. | Once engaged, the happy couple spent two months at the Californian’s house in San Luis Obispo…
rt.com/russia/488726-russian-woman-abuse…

Define ‘distribute’! Trump mobilizing MILITARY to deliver Covid-19 vaccine ‘assuming we get it,’ sparks conspiracy frenzy
rt.com | 2020-05-15
US President Donald Trump said the military is gearing up to distribute a coronavirus vaccine when one is ready, unleashing a torrent of takes from conspiracy-minded netizens, many sounding alarms over mandatory inoculations. | American GIs are already being mobilized to parcel out a future vaccine to “most of the population,” Trump told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview on Thursday, giving a highly optimistic end-of-the-year time frame even as many experts suggest a remedy won’t be ready for mass distribution for another 12 to 18 months. | “We’re mobilizing our military on the basis that we do hav…
rt.com/usa/488691-trump-military-distrib…

Czech Republic to allow gatherings of up to 300 people
rt.com | 2020-05-15
The Czech Republic will take major steps to relax its coronavirus lockdown measures from May 25, as the government seeks to jump-start the economy, health officials said on Friday. | The central European country of 10.7 million people has reported fewer than 100 new cases a day throughout May. As of Friday morning, it had recorded a total of 8,352 cases of which 5,249 have recovered. It has reported 293 deaths, Reuters said. | Indoor dining and hotel stays could resume on May 25 under strict hygiene rules, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said. “After May 25, there won’t be establishments in retail which would be…
rt.com/newsline/488794-czech-gatherings-…

Quarantined & lonely? Find a ‘SEX BUDDY,’ Dutch government advises
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Dutch authorities have decided that sex is a necessity, even in times of lockdown. Ever the pragmatists, they suggest that quarantined singletons “make arrangements” with a willing partner. | With more than 43,000 people infected with the coronavirus and a death toll of 5,600, the Netherlands has been on lockdown since late March. Citizens are allowed to have up to three visitors in their homes, provided they keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other. Naturally, this precludes most sexual activity. | However, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has admitted that two se…
rt.com/news/488821-netherlands-coronavir…

US sailors return to coronavirus-hit aircraft carrier only to test positive AGAIN, despite months of containment efforts
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Five American sailors have tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time after resuming duty on board an aircraft carrier that saw a major outbreak in March, even after a full evacuation of its crew and months of deep cleaning. | Though the Navy imposed several layers of screenings before allowing sailors to re-board the ill-fated USS ‘Theodore Roosevelt’

Trump says govt will work at ‘WARP SPEED’ to deliver vaccine BEFORE year’s end
rt.com | 2020-05-15
President Donald Trump has promised to deliver a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year or earlier, saying that the government will invest in potential candidates. He added that, vaccine or no vaccine, America will reopen. | Speaking to reporters in the White House Rose Garden on Friday, Trump unveiled “Operation Warp Speed,” a public-private partnership aimed at accelerating the development of a vaccine for Covid-19, the deadly virus that has infected more than 4.5 million people worldwide and killed more than 300,000. | “This is an endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project…
rt.com/usa/488811-trump-vacine-warp-spee…

Trump salutes his ‘keyboard warriors,’ but has he actually curtailed corporate online censorship?
rt.com | 2020-05-15
President Donald Trump has paid his respects to the legions of online meme-makers and “keyboard warriors” who helped him get elected. But among these netizens, many feel the president hasn’t done enough to fight online censorship. | “Thank you to all of my great Keyboard Warriors,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “You are better, and far more brilliant, than anyone on Madison Avenue (Ad Agencies). There is nobody like you!” | Thank you to all of my great Keyboard Warriors. You are better, and far more brilliant, than anyone on Madison Avenue (Ad Agencies). There is nobody like you!– Donald J. Trump (@realDonald…
rt.com/usa/488798-trump-keyboard-warrior…

Musk’s swarm of Starlink microsatellites to light up UK skies this weekend
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Elon Musk’s artificial constellation of Starlink microsatellites will stream across the night skies above the UK twice this weekend, providing some fodder for amatuer astronomers but some frustration for the pros. | Musk’s SpaceX designed the fleet of microsats to provide cheap broadband internet to neglected areas of the globe. | While this is a noble goal, the swarm of microsatellites has divided the astronomy community: amateurs have added them to the list of casual targets for a night of stargazing while professionals and researchers bemoan the additional light pollution, lampooning Musk for ‘destroying’ t…
rt.com/uk/488744-starlink-satellites-uk-…

First child dies in France from rare Kawasaki-like disease unwisely linked to Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-05-15
A nine-year-old boy in France has died from the mysterious Kawasaki-like disease, which some medics link to Covid-19. It’s the first such case in that country, but similar child fatalities were earlier recorded in the US and UK. | The cause of the boy’s death was “neurological injury related to a cardiac arrest,” Fabrice Michel, head of the pediatric intensive care unit at La Timone hospital in Marseille, said. | The child was rushed to hospital with heart problems in early May. Doctors have been fighting for his life for a whole week, but the young patient passed away on Saturday. | While in hospital, the bo…
rt.com/news/488814-first-child-death-fra…

New Yorkers confused as Gov. Cuomo extends NY Pause and stay-at-home orders to seemingly contradictory dates
rt.com | 2020-05-15
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has extended the state’s “NY Pause” economic shutdown until the end of May while stretching the stay-at-home order halfway into June, confusing residents already chafing under extended lockdown. | With both measures set to expire at midnight and five of the state’s 10 economic regions entering the first phase of reopening, Cuomo poured cold water on any premature celebration by downstate residents on Friday, extending both Covid-19 executive orders by several weeks. | For those regions that haven’t met the governor’s stated criteria involving a decrease in hospital admissions, te…
rt.com/usa/488813-cuomo-ny-pause-lockdow…

Brazilian Health Minister Teich resigns after just weeks in job
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Brazilian Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned on Friday after just weeks in the job. President Jair Bolsonaro had criticized Teich as being too timid in the push to reopen the economy and to advocate the use of anti-malarial drugs. | Military members of the Brazilian cabinet are pushing for deputy health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an army general on active duty, to become the new health minister, making permanent his interim role, Reuters reported, citing a government source. | Teich is the second health minister to resign amid the pandemic in Brazil. He replaced Nelson Mandetta, who was fired on April 16 fo…
rt.com/newsline/488802-brazilian-ministe…

Germany in recession with economy in worst plunge since global financial crisis
rt.com | 2020-05-15
Germany’s economy shrank by 2.2 percent in the first quarter compared to the final three months of 2019, preliminary official statistics have shown. It’s the biggest slump in a decade for Europe’s largest economy. | Figures for the final three months of 2019 were revised to show a contraction of 0.1 percent, which means German GDP growth has been negative for two consecutive quarters, the technical definition of a recession. | The numbers are expected to get worse; Germany’s Statistical Office has forecast a ten percent plunge in GDP for the second quarter, depending on the success of lifting lockdown measures…
rt.com/business/488749-germany-sharp-rec…

If They Walk Like Fascists and Talk Like Fascists
Sasha Abramsky | thenation.com | 2020-05-15
If They Walk Like Fascists and Talk Like Fascists…
thenation.com/article/politics/trump-gop…

The Virus, the Press, and the Comfortable Class
Michael Massing | thenation.com | 2020-05-15
The Virus, the Press, and the Comfortable Class…
thenation.com/article/society/coronaviru…

Baseball’s Plan to Reopen Is All Risk for the Players
Dave Zirin | thenation.com | 2020-05-15
Baseball’s Plan to Reopen Is All Risk for the Players…
thenation.com/article/society/mlb-baseba…

Gaza Holds Its Breath as the Threat of Coronavirus Looms
Ahmed Abu Artema | thenation.com | 2020-05-15
Gaza Holds Its Breath as the Threat of Coronavirus Looms…
thenation.com/article/world/coronavirus-…

Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black
Elie Mystal | thenation.com | 2020-05-15
Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black…
thenation.com/article/society/breonna-ta…

Wearing ‘smallpox blankets’ Lakota Dakota oppose casinos reopening
Brenda Norrell | indybay.org | 2020-05-15
Wearing ‘smallpox blankets,’ Standing Rock Lakota and Dakota opposed the plan to re-open casinos. This comes as two coronavirus cases were reported after group testing at Standing Rock.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/1883300…

We Can’t Go Back to Normal: A Moral Respnse to Coronavirus Town Hall (PPC)
Poor People’s Campaign & MoveOn | indybay.org | 2020-05-15
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/1883301…

Confirmed known Covid-19 cases for 2,818 federal inmates
Lynda Carson | indybay.org | 2020-05-15
Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/1883300…

Citizens’ Climate Lobby: Virtual Climate Conference 2020 (Day 2)
Citizens’ Climate Lobby | indybay.org | 2020-05-15
Online/virtual conference…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/15/1883304…

Intersection of the Climate Crisis & Social Justice Webinar (PPC & CRP)
Poor People’s Campaign, Climate Reality Proj. | indybay.org | 2020-05-15
Online via Zoom…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/13/1883301…